Microsoft still trying to find its footing in China, Sep 15, 2005

Microsoft's other challenge in China is the growth of Linux. A government-sponsored alliance of open-source companies known as Red Flag Linux has lured some customers away. Red Flag Linux has also won support from global tech giants, including Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and IBM.

IBM asserts that the Chinese government is moving away from, not toward, proprietary-software products like Microsoft's. According to IDC statistics cited by IBM, the Chinese government last year was the largest user of Linux and accounted for 28 percent of Linux server sales.

Shortly after he joined Microsoft 12 years ago in Washington, D.C., Martin Taylor was tapped to help an executive from Redmond make a sales presentation.

The silver-tongued son of a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist was ready to show his stuff. "I was, what, 23, so I was like, 'Steve, Joe, I don't care, some bigwig from Redmond. I just want to go do this presentation,' " he said.

What: Pogo Linux, a company that manufactures and customizes computer servers, workstations and storage systems running on the Linux platform.

For those who remember the browser wars, Microsoft seems to be missing in action from the latest battle.

The Mozilla mania is part of a broader movement toward free, open-source software, in which no company owns the code. Open source draws upon the strength of the collective. Anyone can add features and fix flaws. Not beholden to any commercial interests, developers argue they only have users' interests at heart.

Linux's biggest opportunity may be in home offices and small businesses, where savings matter and consumer applications aren't that pertinent, said David Allen, author of "Windows to Linux Migration Toolkit". It may be a while before Linux catches on with home users because few PCs ship with Linux installed, Allen said.

Intel, the world's biggest semiconductor maker, said it is helping Chinese and Indian customers build personal computers that use the Linux operating system, an alternative to Microsoft's Windows software.

Linus Torvalds [pronounced LEE-nus] started a revolution of sorts in the computer industry when he created the Linux operating system and decided to share it with fellow programmers on the Internet.

He discussed via e-mail his move to Portland, the state of Linux and Microsoft.

There's a new rivalry brewing between Seattle and Portland, and it makes the Sonics and Trail Blazers look like kissing cousins.

Portland has quietly become the world hub for Linux, computer software that's now the biggest threat to Microsoft.

IBM asked a judge to rule that its additions to the free Linux operating system don't infringe copyrights owned by SCO Group.

The issue, raised at a hearing yesterday in federal court in Salt Lake City, centers around SCO's claim that IBM and other companies use code from SCO's Unix operating system in Linux.

In an effort to be more competitive with Microsoft, supporters of the Linux operating system have agreed on a standard version that seeks to ensure programs written for one Linux distribution will work with the others.

The agreement organized by the nonprofit Free Standards Group is meant to prevent Linux from splitting into several conflicting distributions.

Microsoft lost a contract for programs to run 14,000 PCs for the Munich city government to the free Linux software.

The City Council voted yesterday in a closed-door meeting 50-29 in favor of a detailed plan to switch to Linux from Microsoft's Windows, according to the ruling Social Democratic Party

When Linux creator Linus Torvalds first started talking about world domination in the late 1990s, he delivered the line mostly in jest.

Microsoft, the current world ruler, stopped laughing a long time ago.

It doesn't seem realistic to think Linux's free, open-source operating system will knock Microsoft Windows off its throne any time soon. Indisputably, though, Linux and the vast array of free software surrounding it have emerged as a viable desktop computing alternative — for those willing to dig into the installation instructions and tackle the odd setup puzzle.

Novell Chief Executive Jack Messman said the purchase of a Linux developer and a $50 million investment will help it become "the largest Linux vendor" as it fights a lawsuit over ownership of the computer-operating system.

"I'm interested in growing the Linux market very fast and serving our customers," Messman said. "We believe that having another large vendor like Novell in the Linux business helps grow the business."

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, a trade group representing Microsoft rivals, including Sun Microsystems and Oracle, plans to form a lobby group to urge governments to use the Linux operating system.

"We want consideration for Linux; we want a nice, level playing field," Minchak said. "The primary focus is not to go after Microsoft at all." He declined to disclose members of the proposed lobbying group, which hasn't been formed officially.